5 Democrats seek nomination for Pennsylvania attorney general spot
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The Pennsylvania primary is three weeks from Tuesday.
One of the most hotly contested races is for attorney general, an office that many view as a stepping stone to the governor's office. KDKA-TV political editor Jon Delano looks at the Democrats on the ballot.
Two of the last three governors were attorney general: Republican Tom Corbett and Democrat Josh Shapiro. So, no surprise perhaps that five Democrats are vying for their party's nomination later this month.
They are Keir Bradford-Grey, Eugene DePasquale, Joe Khan, Jared Solomon and Jack Stollsteimer.
Bradford-Grey is the only woman in the race, and as a former chief public defender in Philadelphia and Montgomery counties, she said her target is illegal guns.
"When it comes to gun violence, I understand exactly how people acquire their guns, and I know exactly who to look for in terms of going after people who have allowed this to become an epidemic," Bradford-Grey said. "Meaning that guns have become very accessible and out of control or we really can't control who gets them in their hands. I want to be able to use my expertise and my understanding to go after illegal sales, illegal distribution, ghost guns."
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, DePasquale, the twice-elected former state auditor general, said he won't need on-the-job training to be an investigative AG.
"In that role as auditor general, I have a record of protecting Pennsylvanians," he said. "It was my investigation that found 3,000 untested rape kits. Working with my team, we cleared that backlog and we brought justice to victims. It was my investigation that found 58,000 unanswered phone calls to the child abuse hotline. Any single one of those calls could have been life or death for a child. So, I've had the ability to conduct tough investigations all over the state."
Khan of Bucks County worked as both a county and federal prosecutor but cites his work defending the rights of citizens.
"That's the work that I did in Bucks County as the county solicitor who protected the right to abortion when that came before the U.S. Supreme Court," he said. "Who enforced our constitutional right to a clean environment as the first county solicitor to ever do that, and when it came to protecting the right to vote when it came under attack in 2020 by Donald Trump and his campaign."
State Rep. Solomon of Philadelphia County views the AG's office as an extensive of what he has done in Harrisburg.
"When you look at the work I've done in the Legislature, taking on the largest special interests that I've done throughout Philadelphia and throughout the Commonwealth, taking on those political power brokers and elites who don't care about us here in Pennsylvania but are more concerned with padding their own pocket," he said. "I've done that work."
Stollsteimer of Delaware County is the only district attorney in the Democratic primary, and he highlights his record of reducing gun violence.
"I built a partnership between the police and the community," he said. "And over the last four years, we've reduced the number of shootings by 72 percent and the number of gun homicides are down by 68 percent. People who live in Chester now don't always look like me, but they're getting to live the American dream my family got to live because of the wonderful community Chester is. I want to do that for every community in Pennsylvania."